


The End of The Day

by JahStorybook



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Child Death, Depression, Desperation, Don't worry, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Gage is doing his best, Grief/Mourning, Past Child Death, Pregnancy, Saun Didn't Grow Up AU, not as sad as it sounds, really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:28:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27809875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JahStorybook/pseuds/JahStorybook
Summary: Sometimes the road to happiness is paved in grief.
Relationships: Porter Gage/Female Sole Survivor, Porter Gage/Sole Survivor
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Year One

Gage didn't have to pay any mind to the dozens of raiders gossiping about the Overboss to know something was real wrong that morning. He hadn't even been up to Fizztop yet and he could tell she was up there still. The ground was littered with dead crows, all shot off the balcony probably. Whatever was going on, he had a feeling she was in a right awful mood.

Mason, that bastard, was leaning against the wall of the Fizztop Grille, looking more haunted than he probably ever had in his life. Considering the life he led, not a good sign.

"You go up there," he asked, watching the Pack leader tilt his head up to stare at Alaine's room above them. 

"Got kicked right back out. She's not getting shit done today, I'm just making sure she's left alone." Untrustworthy as he was, he did sound genuine. That was fine and all, Alaine was allowed to take a break every now and then, but he didn't believe for one second this was just a break. 

So while the sniveling cowards who could talk all they wanted but not actually do anything worried amongst themselves, he climbed onto the elevator, took a deep breath, and pressed the button. It lurched upward, chain squeaking loudly but holding steady under his weight. While he was real grateful for that, the sobbing he heard as he neared the top made him wish it would collapse under him and save him from whatever hell he was about to walk into.

Immediately he knew why Mason was really keeping people out. She was a mess. Everything was a mess. If anyone came up here and saw her like this her reputation would decline and they'd all start taking shots. Everything was still so new, parts of the part still needed to be cleared out and divided up, surely she wasn't cracking under that pressure already...

Besides her violent crying, you wouldn't know she was even alive by looking at her. Slumped in bed with her mutt nuzzled against her and her dark coily hair a mess, he resigned himself to the fact that this was part of the job description. He got her into this, he'll have to make sure she survives it.

"Boss," he whispered, testing the waters. She didn't bother looking up, didn't even bother to stop crying. Maybe she didn't hear him, or maybe it was a subtle hint that he could fuck off. Gage's money was on the ladder.

"Come on, Alaine, what's gotten into you? Are you hurt? Do you need help?" Nearing the bed, he noticed her pipboy was flung on the floor, powered on the reveal the calendar. Specific dates didn't mean much anymore for anyone.

He chose to bend down and pick it up, worried the fancy piece of equipment would get broken down there. Alaine must have knocked it down their on accident. Setting it on the dresser, Gage turned around and took a moment to consider. 

She wasn't a woman to be taken lightly, but he had to stop the hysterics somehow. Wrestling with his own armor to pry it off and set it down, he decided all chips in was the way to go. 

She fought him, when he wrapped his arms around her. Fought him tooth and nail. She screamed at him, shoved at him, told him to leave her the hell alone or she'd shoot him without a shred of honesty in her tired voice, just pain. Her nose sounded stopped up and her throat must hurt something awful, so he didn't let go, even at her empty threats. 

"Doll, I don't want to hurt you but if you keep scratching me like that I might on accident," he warned, trapping her arms down to her side. 

"Leave me alone, Gage," she demanded, voice hoarse as anything and finally relenting. He didn't trust for a moment that she was through, so he kept ahold of her. Just to be safe. A few times she gave a tired jerk, testing his strength, but those stopped soon after.

They sat like that, Gage not quite hugging her but not quite containing her anymore, for the better half of an hour. Maybe the brief human contact or just the passage of time calmed her down, but when he finally let her go, she just sank to the floor. The crying was done, at least. 

"I'm not working today," she told him straight up, before he could even speak. "I'm staying right here, pouring myself a drink, and hopefully tomorrow I won't remember today."

"That bad?" The look she gave him suggested it _was_ that bad. Pulling herself up from the bed, she went in search of that drink. "You gonna tell me why or do I have to guess?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know. If you did know, you'd probably not be up here, you'd be giving me time to just... handle it." Despite her being purposefully cryptic, Gage could see she was beginning to shake trying to open the bottle of beer she'd dug out of her cooler. 

"Try me. Maybe I can even help out, if possible." A snort then, and okay, yeah, that would hurt his feelings a bit if he bothered to have any. "Really, try me." 

Alaine sighed, returning to her bed and sitting down with the beer that she hadn't taken a sip of yet. Even though the tension in the room had shifted from incredibly heavy to somewhat bearable, it now also felt surprisingly awkward. Her eyes were still tinted red and he wasn't sure where to look when he addressed her. Not when she looked completely torn down.

"You really want to know? Does it kill you not to? Or are you just a lil curious," she asked, finally bring the bottle to her lips and taking a long swig. It probably wasn't strong, none of the usual swill around here was, but he could tell it stung her eyes further.

"I'd like to know, yes. Come on, Boss, let me help you." She laughed, then, and it was the most dramatic, malicious thing he'd ever heard.

"It's the first anniversary of the day I lost my son," she announced, throwing her arms out theatrically and spilling beer on the floor by dogmeat who whined and got up to leave. "Oh no! I'm sorry baby, I'm sorry! Don't go, I didn't mean to do that!" 

While she pathetically attempted to console her dog, Gage took a step back, still not certain he'd heard her correctly. 

"You... lost your son? As in..." Rolling her head around to look at him, he realized this was definitely not something he could handle. 

"As in he was fucking murdered. My son. My little boy... God he was so small, wasn't he. Barely a year old, so new to the world." He wanted to back track, take back the questions, take back everything, He wanted to flee right then and there. But... she was talking, and she was staring at him so intently, so warmly. Alaine needed this. "I was frozen, you know? For two hundred years. Me and my baby, locked away in that vault while the world was destroyed. They just had to wake us up, though. Woke us up, took him away, and killed my husband. They took my family away, Gage."

"I'm sorry." She didn't stop.

"I tried to find him! Looked everywhere and followed the damn bread crumbs all the way to the institute's door. He was just and experiment to them, a damn lab rat. My fucking baby, a lab rat," she screamed, throwing the bottle against the wall. She stood their, watching the glass shatter and the liquid drip down the wall as if it were art, something to be appreciated carefully. Looking back at him, she had begun to cry again. "They killed him. They killed him sixty years ago while I was sleeping underground."

"Bos- Alaine, I'm sorry." What could he say? What could he possibly say?! Uncertain, he lifted his hand, thinking he could maybe console her in some way.

In a voice that didn't match her powerful body, she whispered, "One year without my baby."

He didn't know what drove him to crush her in a possibly near lethal hug, or to run his hand through her tightly curled hair. She wasn't much to fold into his arms, or to hold against his chest while she cried and cried. The rivers of tears she could shed were maybe nothing to the rivers of blood she'd spilled, but he figured both were the only thing keeping her afloat.

Gage decided right then that he'd never let her suffer alone again.


	2. Chapter 2

No one could say she didn't work fast. Four months after he'd comforted her on the loss of her son, Gage was helping the Overboss clear out the zoo. What would have taken the last Overboss forever, she was accomplishing practically overnight, and it was making people happy.

The raiders loved her, worshiped her. Hell, Gage was even starting to idolize her a bit. It was kinda hard not to put her on a pedestal after literally putting her on a pedestal by giving her Fizztop. Where she went he followed, what she shot at he killed. If he'd been at anyone else's heels like he was for her he'd be worried for himself. As it was, Gage was more than happy to be under her power.

The only issue is, she didn't exactly abuse it. Not that that was an issue, it was just unexpected. Not a single living soul he'd ever met had shown her level of honor, which coexisted beside her rage and cunning. Simply put, Alaine was a outlier in his experiences. 

Four months turned to six, and the zoo was gifted to the pack, much to Mason's delight and Gage's annoyance. 

"Really," he'd asked, exasperated with her choice.

"What? It was obvious! Besides, I like the thought of Mason sleeping in a cage, sue me." He didn't know how to sue her, or what that meant, but based on the flippant way she'd said it he didn't have to actually figure it out. 

"There's tension brewing with the operators. They don't haven't been giving a section of the park yet." He didn't miss how she shivered, looking away from him and at the pack pouring in. "You alright, Boss?"

She pulled her gaze back to him in a second, composing herself. 

"I'm fine." Which, roughly translated, meant she absolutely wasn't. He was about to argue it, demand a better answer, when she sighed and let her head fall against him. "No, I'm not actually. It's William, he's been... I don't like him. I don't like how he's been acting lately. I promised him his own place, and Mags has been fine, but he's had this look in his eyes here lately. I don't like it one bit."

She had fears. Gage grew much more serious, glancing around at the influx of raiders until he spotted him. Mason. 

"It's customary to stick around and make sure everything is going smoothly when we conquer a new spot. Let's go talk to Mace, make sure everything is up to his nonexistent standards." She nodded, leading the way to the pack leader. Mason met them half way, grinning widely.

"Ohh I like. I really do." He spun a raider by her hand, slapping her on the rear in the direction of the exhibits. "To what do I owe the extended pleasure? Or to who, I should say."

"Just making sure everything's in order. And you know damn well it's me," she said with a chuckle, and Gage was both grateful and insanely infuriated that she was able to relax for the first time all week. 

"You're the one I owe the pleasure to? Hmm, I think I'd be very happy with that." Gage reminded himself not to pull his gun out and shoot him in his stupid face. Why did Alaine have to be such a flirt again? And why did Mason want to fuck every single raider in Nuka World.

"I've got business to take care and I'm afraid I'll be leaving you without a bodyguard for a bit. Why don't you stay here for the night, up in the treehouse? Mace, you're sticking around for a few days right? Can you make sure she's left alone?" Mason looked plenty up for the task.

"Of course! Follow me, great and powerful one," he said with a bow, tone jesting and earning him a painful punch in the arm. "What the hell was that for?"

"There's something I'd like to talk to you about. Right now, preferably." He huffed a sigh, giving the Overboss a grin before following Gage to the entrance of the maze.

"Alright, out with it. What new and likely over exaggerated threat are you worried about this time?" Gage glanced around, just to be sure no one was too close.

"William is making his move." Mason's lazy posture straightened at that, pupils shrinking considerably. "Boss isn't safe, so I need you to keep both eyes on her until I get back tomorrow."

"It's done. I've got a handful I can trust, we'll guard the maze and the treehouse while she's here. Are you going to kill him?" No. That would be foolish, even if he was the Overboss' second in command, he'd never get away with it. 

"Not quite. Just need to make sure the power dynamic isn't being threatened. And if it is... I'll go from there." He didn't have to kill William to scare him back into line. He was a fairly standard raider, who'd listen to reason if there was something in it for him.

"Fine fine. Hurry back. I don't want to miss the party." That was a blatant lie. Mason had proved time and again that when it came to priorities, the Overboss came before fun. Of course, sometimes Gage worried Mason got the two missed up sometimes.

* * *

Ten months. Things couldn't be going better, in Gage's opinion. Alaine was happy, powerful, and most importantly in complete control. Mags was making for a wonderful leader of the Operators, the pack and the disciples were for once not causing problems. Things had never felt more smooth around here.

Why, then, did Gage feel emptier than ever? He should be celebrating, his plan had worked perfectly. Colter was gone, Alaine was a successful Overboss, and Nuka World was climbing the ladder of it's potential. What more could he possibly want?

Of course, he knew what he wanted, he wasn't that dense. It just wasn't fair. Not to him, for needing it so badly, and not to Alaine, who'd already given so much. A line had to be drawn somewhere. He was drawing it here. Even if it made him miserable. Even if it meant keeping this one secret from her.

Gage didn't like it, but some things he just couldn't risk. 

A month passed in this stalemate, both of them sensing the other was hiding something but neither digging too deep into it. Distantly he knew something was coming, but he couldn't remember what.

Not until he woke up to screaming.


End file.
